My perfect weekend: Celia Imrie

Actress Celia Imrie never gets the Sunday blues - because she would rather
work on her perfect weekend.

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Celia ImriePhoto: Trevor Leighton/Woman & Home/IPC

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Celia Imrie had a great weekend this summer in Budapest where she was filming the forthcoming series of Titanic Photo: Trevor Leighton/Woman & Home/IPC

Interview by Anna Tyzack

7:00AM BST 23 Sep 2011

I’m always intrigued by how religious some people are about their weekends and holidays because in my profession, “days off” don’t necessarily fall on Saturday or Sunday. And I wouldn’t think to keep any day aside as being sacred. I met a woman the other day who asked me if I’d taken the summer off. How does one even begin to answer that? “No, absolutely not,” I guffawed. “There is no such thing as a summer off.” Her son wanted to become an actor so I thought I’d better spell it out.

But if I did happen to have a proper weekend stretching ahead of me, I’d pour myself a glass of champagne at 6pm on Friday evening. I’m not a complete alcoholic but I do like a drink every day. Are people are allowed to say that these days?

I live in Kensington in West London but my perfect weekend would be spent on the coast. I’d have slammed a swimming costume into my bag because a swim in the sea is my absolute ideal – although I do have to brace myself. And I’d want to be somewhere I could ride a bike. It would be nice to think that I had work to come back to so I’d probably be by the sea in Britain – or the French Riviera, at a stretch. I do love it there.

With luck my son Angus, who is 17, will be with me. He’s a very good travelling companion. Naturally, though, I’m not so good to hang out with any more. He wants to be with his gang but that’s all right; I understand that. Since he went to Edinburgh Festival with his friends in August, everything else has paled into insignificance. He adored everything about it; particularly a masked mime called Translunar Paradise by Theatre Ad Infinitum. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Angus went into acting eventually and I certainly wouldn’t put him off because it’s wonderful. But at the moment I have to be very careful not to say pressing things to him such as: “I’d love you to go to university.”

Back to my weekend. Lying on the beach is just not my thing at all. I like exploring an area and I know it sounds awfully worthy, but Angus is quite good at art galleries. When we go to exhibitions together he always takes much longer to go around than I do.

I’m often working away from home at weekends; it’s quite normal for me to spend Friday evening in a hotel somewhere, learning my lines for the following day. I’ve always battled to remember them and have recently started writing them out by hand. That way your brain has to take longer going over them, so you take them on board better. But I still find it tough and am never confident I know them until I’ve said them to camera.

When I’m filming Lewis in Oxford I spend Friday nights at the wonderful Randolph Hotel, and I’ve just spent a swathe of time in Budapest, which was incredible. I’d never think to pack my case and go there but I was filming Titanic, Julian Fellowes’s new series. I play Grace Rushton, whose husband is in trade. Even though she’s travelling in First Class, she’s not included in all the posh parties, much to her disappointment. They all think she’s frightful, but I think she’s adorable.

Why, you might ask, is Titanic being filmed in Hungary – a landlocked country? It’s because of money – obviously. And the fact that Budapest has got the biggest water tank in Europe. It’s disgustingly warm. There I was, sitting in a wooden boat with two dogs under my arms, wearing a fur coat and it was so revoltingly hot that I was sweating. This wouldn’t usually matter as far as the filming goes, but the dogs were giving the whole game away by panting. I was told not to worry about it but as far as I can remember, dogs don’t pant in Arctic temperatures.

I’ve got to the stage where I’m at the senior end of the cast; which I hate. But one weekend in Budapest, the younger members of the Titanic cast took me off to a rap concert. Somebody called Pharaoh the Showman or something. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying but it was all rather marvellous. Then Glen, who plays one of the Italian waiters in Titanic, said “Ceals, come and have a look.” And we stepped outside and there was the dawn. It was 4am as we walked back through the city and rolled down the grassy hill in the park by the hotel. It was the best weekend I’ve had for as long as I can remember.

When I was younger, my weekends involved arts and crafts, which I didn’t much like. I hated sitting still. The highlight of my life was ballet on a Saturday morning – I still dance in private. And then on Sunday, on the way back from church – which was boring – my father used to take us to the milk-bottling plant for a treat. It was absolutely fascinating watching the silver tops get put on. It reminds me of a marvellous scene in The Borrowers [Celia played Homily Clock in the 1997 film], where the little Borrower boy gets shoved into a milk bottle.

Some people love Sundays; I don’t particularly. I used to rather dread them when I was younger. I was brought up on Sunday roasts, which I’ve always loathed. If I didn’t finish my meat I had to sit with it for most of the afternoon. No wonder I’m a vegetarian now. I’m a hopeless cook. Poor Angus has the same old pasta most days but I’ve learnt how to make Irish soda bread recently, which is delicious and so incredibly easy.

The only time when Sundays are precious to me is when I’m in a West End run and it’s the only evening of the week when I’m not in a show. Lunchtime drinking is definitely allowed that day and I might even go out for dinner at my favourite Italian or Indian or for a drink at the Savoy.

I know that sounds awfully grand, but the staff there are so wonderfully polite and accommodating. I don’t mean to name drop but I was there with my friend Paul O’Grady last week, which was a huge treat.

I don’t feel blue on Sunday evenings because I love what I do. Yes, I’ll feel nervous if I’ve got to do a big scene the next day or I’m starting a new job. It’s that same feeling you get on the first day of term – quite exciting.

When there’s a great long empty stretch ahead of me, I get out there and frantically try to find something else to do.